The approaches used to address the crime problem seen in America are subject to political influences (Travis; Walker). Celebrated cases, such as those of Megan Kanka and Polly Klaas, can put extreme political pressure on legislatures to take extraordinary measures to control or prevent crime (Walker). In addition, the local evening news in most metropolitan areas begins each night with stories on the murders, rapes, and assaults that had occurred in the community. This sets the public perception of the incidence of crime in the community and can likewise lead to political pressures coming to bear on the lawmakers to better control crime. The responses to these political pressures include a number of approaches, such as putting more police on the streets (Sherman); “unleashing” law enforcement, giving them more freedom and reducing or eliminating the consequences for interfering with individual rights (Walker); increasing deterrence through a swifter criminal justice system, with harsh punishments, and with an increased likelihood of detection, arrest, prosecution and punishment (Walker); closing loopholes that allow criminals to escape punishment or “escape” with limited punishment that is not suited to the crime (Walker); and finally, strong techniques that lock up offenders (the “lock ‘em up” approach) at various stages in the criminal justice process and ensure that the stay locked up (Walker). The “lock ‘em up” approach is generally considered to encompass three techniques: “preventative detention, incapacitation, and mandatory sentencing” (Walker, pg. 132). On an intuitive level, they are going to have considerable impact on reducing and controlling crime. In actual application, however, they do not. In some instances, they may even have negative impacts in other areas. For example, they can result in racial disparity or they can be unnecessarily harsh by their application. Preventive detention fails on a number of levels. Because of the...

YOU MAY ALSO FIND THESE DOCUMENTS HELPFUL

...Criminal Sentencing
By Christina Long
CRJ301: Juvenile Justice
Instructor: Agustin Pena
March 5, 2013
After a criminal is found guilty of committing an illegal offense, the next step for the individual is to be sentenced to some form of punishment according to the law. Sentencing is a punishment that determines how much jail time the convicted will receive or what punishment they will endure. Sentencing can range from jail time, to community service, to paying fines. There are four major concepts when it comes to criminal sentencing: deterrence, rehabilitation, incapacitation, and retribution.
Deterrence theory is based on the concept that if the consequences of committing a crime outweigh the benefit of the crime itself, the individual will be deterred from committing the crime. (Worrell, 2008)Deterrence is generally aimed toward a specific offender. The aim is to inflict a sufficient penalty to discourage the offender from any future behavior. General deterrence aims at society as a whole. By imposing a penalty on those who commit offenses and making an example out of them, other individuals are discouraged from committing the same offenses. For example, fewer traffic tickets would be written if minor driving violations were punishable by death. Crime rates would be drastically low if the government were to impose extreme punishments on petty offenders.
Punishment for petty crimes or...

...Sentencing
Kelley Yiannakis
CJ 200
September 8, 2013
Carl Dewyer
Sentencing
The criminal justice system has many important aspects within, the most important one is sentencing. Sentencing is the imposition of a penalty on a person convicted of a crime. (Schmalleger, 2011) This decision is determined in judicial proceedings by judges and in some cases juries may be involved. In the following paragraphs the philosophical reasons and punishments for sentencing of criminals will be explained.
There are four main philosophical reasons that surround the purposes of sentencing a criminal, which are retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. First is retribution which is based on a perceived need for vengeance, used in the earliest societies. Whereas they believed in punishments to fit the crimes, which was stated in the bible. In the “Old Testament dictum of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” –often cited as an ancient justification for retribution- which was believed to be intended to reduce severe punishment for minor crimes.” Second of criminal sentencing is incapacitation which protects members of society who may be in danger of harm by the offender. Incapacitation is not a punishment but a restraint to separate the offenders from endangering the community. Next is deterrence which is the fear of punishment to deter people from committing a...

...My theory for the reasoning of punishment has two main goals which are to provide justice for the victims and a lesson to the convicted. When a judge sits in preparation to initiate sentencing they have to go through numerous thought processes because of the uniqueness of every case. Considerations such as what are they trying to accomplish with the punishment and who would benefit from such a sentence. General factors like the age of the convicted and the heinousness of the crime committed matters as well. When a criminal is sentence it is reasoned by retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, or rehabilitation.
One of the types of sentences that can be given to a criminal can be in the form of retribution. Retribution can also be seen as saying an eye for an eye for example if a kid is caught stealing a candy bar from a convenient store then the punishment may be that they have to pay for it somehow. This type of sentence is mostly seen in death penalty cases today such as a life for a life. “The law of "an eye for an eye" is usually called the law of retribution, or "lex talionis" (Latin, lex [law] and talio [like]; the punishment is like the injury), or the law of equivalency.” (Rodríguez, 1998)
Another type of sentence given to a criminal is deterrence and in lamens terms it is the use of punishment as a threat to deter people from offending. Deterrence can be divided into three separate categories. “Specific deterrence, as used in criminal justice,...

...234 Sentencing
CJA/234
May 23, 2011
Sentencing
Thinking about the issue of punishment gives rise to a number of questions, the most fundamental of which is, why should offenders be punished? And what are the objectives for the punishment. Some of the objectives are deterrence, retribution, restitution, rehabilitation, and the reason for such punishment.
Deterrence is most effective at stopping crime that is planned or premeditated. Sometimes the goal is to deter the individual from repeating the behavior; other times it is to deter others from engaging in a similar behavior. An “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” punishment applied with the belief that offenders should suffer similarly to their victims this is the retribution punishment. Restitution is applied with the belief that offenders should repay their victim’s loss in money or services. The offenders should pay back to the victim for crimes that he has made to change a person life. He has to see that he cannot get away with committing crimes. Rehabilitation is used more frequently with juveniles; it is applied with the hopes of helping the person resolve his disorder or disease that may contribute to crime. The punishment is their so that the person can choose more of a better life in which he decides to live, or he may choose a better path.
The concept of punishment has been theorized by moral philosophers, social theorists, and criminologists, When a court...

...Truth-in-sentencing debate
Learning Team B
CJA/204
November 26, 2012
Deana Bohenek
Truth-In-Sentencing Debate
Opening Argument
Truth-in-sentencing laws do not deter crime. The federal truth-in-sentencing law guarantees that certain violent offenders will serve at least 85% of their sentence (Schmalleger, 2012). However, if the offender acts accordingly in prison, he or she can attain parole for good behavior. What about the victims? Victims do not want to hear this. If an offender is sentenced for 30 years, the victim wants justice and wants to see the full 30 years served. They do not want to see the offender getting released after 25 years. The truth-in-sentencing laws are the judges’ guideline when choosing the sentence of the offender. The law is a structured guideline for sentencing the offenders. However, the judge can deviate from the guidelines if there are mitigating and aggravating circumstances. Look at plea bargaining, this is still a possibility even though there are truth-in-sentencing laws in place. The offender knows that if they get caught, they can plea bargain for a lesser sentence and be back out on the streets sooner.
Let me say it again, truth-in-sentencing laws do not deter crime. The offenders know...

...Sentencing Paper
David Sanders, Delisa Hooks, Deborah Chapman, Henry Woeltjen, Angela Westbrook
CJA/354
May 21st, 2012
Steven Duskie
In our society sentencing plays a big part in our criminal justice system. Not only does it plays a big part but it helps to deter and reduce crime to help keep our street safe from those that want to cause us harm. In this paper we will begin to analyze the various forms of sentencing that are used along with their rational. The impact of tough sentencing giving handed out to criminals. The eighth amendment and its relationship to capital punishment and how they come together when it has to do with sentencing. In to wrap things up if the death penalty should be abolished for good. All in which would be covered and explained to give a better understand of sentencing.
There are various forms of sentencing that are used in the criminal justice system and each has its’ own rationale. These include but are not limited to the death penalty, incarceration, suspended sentence, probation, and restitution. The death penalty must be requested by the prosecutor and in some rare cases the defense. The death penalty can also be recommended by a jury, however only specific crimes are eligible for the death penalty. Most states require a certain number of witnesses in order to qualify the defendant for the death penalty. These crimes...

...﻿
Sentencing Paper
CJA/234
May 26, 2010
Sentencing Paper
When a person has plead guilty or is found to be guilty of a crime the judge determines their sentence. Sentencing is imposing a criminal sanction by a judicial authority (Seiter, 2011). Every year there are thousands of criminals that are sentenced for their crimes. Sentencing is an important process in the criminal justice system. It is the result of punishment from the courts. There are different reasons for sentencing in the United States. The major reasons for punishment include deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation, and reparation. The federal and state corrections systems also have mandatory minimum sentences; three strikes laws, and sentencing guidelines frequently require specific sentences that have little consideration of personal factors. They also have determinate and indeterminate sentencing, which creates a deterrent for offenders.
There are five major types of punishment. There are two types of deterrence: individual and general. Individual deterrence involves deterring someone that has already offended from reoffending. General deterrence is stopping those who would offend from offending because of the punishment that others are receiving. Retribution is the theory that the punishment is right because it is deserved. Retribution...

...Bottom-Up Theories of the Reading Process
By D. R. Reutzel|R.B. Cooter
Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall
Updated on Jul 29, 2013
Bottom-up theories hypothesize that learning to read progresses from children learning the parts of language (letters) to understanding whole text (meaning). Much like solving a jigsaw puzzle, bottom-up models of the reading process say that the reading puzzle is solved by beginning with an examination of each piece of the puzzle and then putting pieces together to make a picture. Two bottom-up theories of the reading process remain popular even today: One Second of Reading by Gough (1972) and A Theory of Automatic Information Processing by LaBerge and Samuels (1974). Gough’s (1972) One Second of Reading model described reading as a sequential or serial mental process. Readers, according to Gough, begin by translating the parts of written language (letters) into speech sounds, then piece the sounds together to form individual words, then piece the words together to arrive at an understanding of the author’s written message. In their reading model, LaBerge and Samuels (1974) describe a concept called automatic information processing or automaticity. This popular model of the reading process hypothesizes that the human mind functions much like a computer and that visual input (letters and words) is sequentially entered into the mind of the reader. Almost without exception, humans have...